Here's what Amazon employees can expect from their new neighborhood when HQ2 opens in Crystal City, Virginia (AMZN, JBGS)

Crystal City

Amazon is moving 25,000 employees into a new campus in Northern Virginia.
The ecommerce giant chose Arlington's Crystal City neighborhood (along with Queens, New York) as one of two locations for its "HQ2" expansion.
We recently visited the area to find out what employees can expect from their new neighborhood.
Here's what it looks like at street level.

It's official — Amazon is moving into Northern Virginia.

It already had a lot of offices and data centers in the region, but the ecommerce giant chose Arlington's Crystal City neighborhood (along with Queens, New York) as one of two locations for its "HQ2" expansion.

Crystal City isn't one of Arlington County's most trafficked areas. It's a sleepy, mostly office-and-hotel neighborhood, separated from the more residential and livable parts of the area by a giant, eight-lane highway.

Crystal City is also very close to the Pentagon, the U.S. military headquarters.

Many Northern Virginians have never really explored the Crystal City area, unless they work in the area or serve in the military. For most locals, it's a place you drive through on the way to Reagan National Airport.

So one day last week, I spent a day checking out the properties that Amazon has committed to either lease or buy, and imagined what life could be like for the 25,000 employees Amazon plans to hire over the next decade.

Here's what I learned: